Sizable capacity hip pack, plus the optional bottle holder. Made in London, which partly explains the huge price tag.
- Brand: Wizard Works
- Product: Hobgob Hip Pack (and Quick Draw Bottle Pocket)
- Price: £199.00 pack (and £33.00 bottle pocket)
- From: Wizard Works
- Tested by: Aran Francis for 3 months
Our rating
Based in London, Wizard Works hand make bags for bikepacking and commuting. I’ve been using their 4.8 litre hip pack, the Hobgob, for a few months now and – on the whole – I have a lot of praise for it.
As with most UK-handmade things, the Hobgob is far from cheap. Very far. The £200 price is genuinely reflected in the quality and design of the bag.
The outer fabric of the bag is 1000D Cordura polyester. A really tough material which I am confident will last an extremely long time indeed. The tough fabric does mean there is not much stretch to the bag, so the 4.8 litre capacity isn’t a negotiable figure. This is durability first and foremost.
Flaps over the smaller zip pocket provides good protection from the mud and a rubber ‘Aquaguard’ lining on the main zip helps keep the bag waterproof and the zip clean.
After overall build quality, the main standout aspect is that this bag feels like one of those products designed by someone that wants to use it themselves. The Hobgob features many nifty details which make life easier for the rider.
Inside the main pocket there are two mesh-like pockets for securing gear. I store a little electric pump and a very small (Tubolito) inner tube in one, with a multitool and a snack in the other. I now no longer have pumps and multitools rattling about off each other in my bag.
Similarly in the front pocket there are a set of loops for securing more things (CO2 cartridges, spare batteries, tyre levers etc). Once these storage loops and meshes are full, there is still plenty of room for a spare layer and a sandwich/burrito/M&S wrap in the main pocket and a phone or wallet in the smaller pocket.
If that still isn’t enough storage for you, there is an elastic cord around the bottom for securing a rain jacket or knee sleeves, which clips together with a nice quick release buckle. Yes, the jacket/sleeves will naturally be vulnerable to all the gunk that you kick up from the back wheel here, but it’s nice to have the option of self-sabotage.
For adjustment and comfort the Hobgob ticks all of the boxes it set out to do. The bag itself can be tightened with two tensioning straps. These straps are really needed for a bag of this size as without them it would be on the cumbersome and flappy side when empty. The magnetic Fidlock buckle is great: nice and easy to use but remains secure when in use.
The adjustment on the main waist strap is my only real criticism of the bag. I found that the strap didn’t do a great job of keeping tight throughout a day of riding and would need a few adjustments through the ride.. Comfort-wise there is typical and unproblematic cushioning that does a decent job at not irritating you on long rides.
The similarly spendy (£33.00) Quick Draw Bottle Pocket is an optional extra that I would actually recommend. It is a bit fiddly to take on and off the bag but once it is on it secures a bottle well giving no indication of insecurity whatsoever. It would have been nice to have a way of tightening or loosening this pocket to fit odd sized containers, but as it is the pocket fits most bottles securely without a problem.
Overall
The Wizard Works Hobgob is the product it needs to be for the priceit is. The sheer quality of fabrication as well as the design of the bag reflect this price. This thing should last a lifetime. The Hobgob offers facilities to securely stash and organise gear within the bag and works really well with the optional bottle pocket. Oh, and it looks cool too. Which it needs to, at £200!
So… the critical component of a waist pack (the waist strap) doesn’t stay snugged up properly? They should have a look at how Osprey, and others, do it!
I do like a waist pack but fit and stability is crucial ime.
It’s £200.
two hundred pounds.
And it’s a hip-pack.
Who would buy this?!
Rich people, doh… It seems like a well thought-out pack, but the price. And why has ST never, afaik, reviewed the Osprey Seral?
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I’m glad stuff like this exists and that people are making things in the UK. Unfortunately my salary isn’t keeping track with the cost of UK manufacturing and I’m on a strictly far-east budget for stuff like this. Thank god for Decathlon.
£200..plus EXTRA for the water bottle holder!
DrP
No two ways about it that £200+ for a bum-bag is a lot, but I’d imagine that manufacture is pretty labour intensive. In fact every aspect of small volume production and distribution is expensive. Nice to have the option of buying something locally produced though.
I’ve used one of their bar bags for years and it’s great, but unfortunately no way I could justify the price for that. I can understand why it costs that much to produce though.Â
The price would put me off too… given that there are loads of options out there.Â
This is the problem isn’t it.  If I had the skills, tools, premises, raw materials etc to develop and make this bag I’d probably want £200ish to do so.  My organisation would charge more as an hourly rate for me than I would guess WW would cost in for the time it would take to make the bag.
We all say we want sustainable stuff made in the UK and not in ‘sweat shops’ but we can’t afford it or won’t pay for it.  I remember going into the hand made shoe shop in Machynlleth with my daughter and thinking I will buy her a pair of shoes… until she asked the price and reversed out of the door.Â
I guess you’d have to really want it to fork out for it and to want it, it would have to be very good.  But then if you did buy it, it would last many of us until we are no longer riding… maybe then we would look back and think it wasn’t too expensive.
I have a WW Brompton front bag and it is really nicely made.  It didn’t cost that much more than the hip pack but it is a lot bigger so I guess I felt I was getting more for my cash.Â
You’ve answered your own point there with …
The cost of the fabric and fasteners is probably the most insignificant part of the total price. See also the cost of bike tyres vs. car tyres.Â
If was was spending that cash on a UK made product, I’d want the full hipster artisan hand roasted version.
https://collinscycleworks.uk/products/hiproll-v4
but what extra does it do? It carries the correct amount of stuff and attaches to something. I image it would be fairly useless for mtbing just as this hip pack is useless at carrying a laptop and dress shoes to the office.
having extra air inside doesn’t make it more valuable, just good at different things.
That is my point.  The decisions we make when buying are subjective and not always rational.  I felt I was getting more so that helped to justify it… and Brompton bags are more specialist and expensive anyway, I was buying it with money given to me as a gift and so on. Â
Definitely. But add that to all the other stuff made without an economy of scale and it’s bound to be expensive when made by a small UK company.Â
The other problem, other than the €200, is that it looks terrible (from my point of view, while acknowledging that beauty is obviously in the eye of the beholder).Â
“Made locally" is the main thing here. I’d feel differently about this bag if it was made in Manchester 🙂
I have no problem spending money on decent kit.
I can see no reason whatsoever to spend £200 on this though
The Collins cycle works hip pack are so much better
https://collinscycleworks.uk/products/hiproll-v4
https://ukgravelco.com/2024/03/03/collins-cycle-works-hip-roll-pack-review/
Double post